Each summer, the University of Vermont’s Career Services office hosts a NASPA Undergraduate Fellow as an intern in our office. The students in this program are interested in careers in higher education and are given the opportunity to learn more about the field by obtaining internships at campuses across the country. This summer, we were fortunate to work with Christina Smith, of Loyola University Chicago, and you can read excerpts from reflections on her experience below:
I was an ’11 summer intern for the University of Vermont’s Dean of Students office. I found my way to this position as a student at Loyola University Chicago because I became very involved on campus. Through my involvement on campus I found the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP), which is a program for undergraduates that want to go into the field of Student Affairs.
I am interested in Student Affairs because I want to bridge the gap within the African American community between men and women. I want to become a person that works at a university and empowers black men and women to come to college and actually graduate. I came to UVM for the summer for an internship that will give me experience within the Student Affairs field, and it has done exactly that.
Being in Vermont for the summer has broadened my horizons to the different places to live in America and how that affects a campus climate and the people who work on that campus. UVM has become a place where I learned that when I make decisions in life, I need to not only weigh the benefits it has for me personally and professionally, but I also need to think about how that decision will impact me and my happiness. Working at UVM for the summer was the best decision for me, it changed me personally and it offered a safe space for me to explore my professional goals.
~Christina